Doctors experience digital inclination post-pandemic

Medical professionals manifest two different personas after pandemic– digitally dominant and in-person learners.

Inclination with the use of digital tools in medicine was seen among doctors in Southeast Asia, revealing that most doctors prefer online than onsite if they had a choice.

Healthcare professionals community Docquity shared in their recent Pulse Check survey that doctors’ attendance in digital learning events is higher than in-person events, adding that teleconsultation volume is also expected to increase next year.

Indranil Roychowdhury, Chief Executive Officer at Docquity, mentioned that inclination of doctors toward digital means of communication has gone up after the pandemic.

“What was very interesting to note here is even post pandemic, the frequency in which doctors are looking at digital as a preferred way of communicating with their patients communicating and interacting with, you know, their professional peers, for the learning, for the practice, that hasn't really changed. In fact, it has actually gone up,” he said.

He also cited that this trend reveals two different doctor persona, one which is digitally dominant, and the other being in-person learners. The two, he said, engage in distinct areas differently.

“I think the key bottom line that we got is that post-pandemic, I think we are truly living in a hybrid world. And that that, that really kind of refers back to the medicine practice as well,” he explained, “This information kind of helps to draw a lot of insights about how product companies like us can steer their strategy or even the industry to actually really engage with patients, actively engage doctors with both, you know, an offline and online approach."

Roychowdhury also revealed that the fundamental problem that Docquity is experiencing today is diversity among its doctors, specifically relating to language, expertise, and regulations.

“It's really about language diversity. It's about requirement diversity, think about, general practitioners, specialists in different regions, think about it from perspective of patient diversity,” he said, “The whole aspect about the medical industry is that, given each of the countries we have different conditions that doctors are working in, you know, how do you really bring all of that together while looking at specific requirements across each of each of these countries?”

When questioned about the future of Docquity in the evolving healthcare industry, Roychowdhury said they are aiming to continue connecting doctors globally, starting with Southeast Asia to Japan and the Middle East.

“We have entered into Taiwan, we are piloting in Japan and the Middle East market as we speak. So growth with respect to markets, while addressing the diversity challenge, I think that definitely is one step that we are doing,” he said.

Roychowdhury said they are also prioritizing investing in continuous learning among its doctors by providing them information and services specific to their field of expertise.

“That's one of the core aspects Docquity is investing in today, which is how do we make learning fun and simple. Leveraging technology, leveraging our understanding of doctors, and this is where I think new technologies like you know, AI, they're actually building out products around that,” he said.